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12 - Man's Reason · Tarzan of the Apes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve, Man's Reason. There was one of the tribe
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  Speaker 1: of Tarzan who questioned his authority, and that were Stirkas,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Tublat. But he so feared the keen
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  Speaker 1: knife and the deadly arrows of his new lord, that
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  Speaker 1: he confined the manifestation of his objections to petty disobediences
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  Speaker 1: and irritating mannerisms. Tarzan knew, however, that he but waited
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  Speaker 1: his opportunity to wrest the kingship from him by some
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  Speaker 1: sudden stroke of treachery, and so he was ever on
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  Speaker 1: his guard against surprise. For months, the life of the
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  Speaker 1: Little Man went on much as it had before, except
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  Speaker 1: that Tarzan's greater intelligence and his ability as a hunter
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  Speaker 1: were the means of providing for them more bountifully than
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  Speaker 1: ever before. Most of them, therefore, were more than content
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  Speaker 1: with the change in rulers. Tarzan led them by night
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  Speaker 1: to the fields of the Black Men, and there, warned
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  Speaker 1: by their chief superior wisdom, they ate only what they required,
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  Speaker 1: nor ever did they destroy what they could not eat,
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  Speaker 1: as is the way of Manu the Monkey and of
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  Speaker 1: most apes. So while the Blacks were wroth at the
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  Speaker 1: continued pilfering of their fields. They were not discouraged in
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  Speaker 1: their efforts to cultivate the land, as would have been
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  Speaker 1: the case had Tarzan permitted his people to lay waste
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  Speaker 1: the plantation wantonly. During this period, Tarzan paid many nocturnal
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  Speaker 1: visits to the village, where he often renewed his supply
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  Speaker 1: of arrows. He soon noticed the food always standing at
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  Speaker 1: the foot of the tree which was his avenue into
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  Speaker 1: the palisade, and after a little he commenced to eat
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  Speaker 1: whatever the blacks put there. When the awestruck savages saw
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  Speaker 1: that the food disappeared overnight, they were filled with consternation
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  Speaker 1: and dread. For it was one thing to put food
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  Speaker 1: out to propitiate a god or a devil, but quite
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  Speaker 1: another thing to have this spirit really come into the
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  Speaker 1: village and eat it. Such a thing was unheard of,
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  Speaker 1: and it clouded their superstitious minds with all manner of
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  Speaker 1: vague fears. Nor was this all. The periodic disappearance of
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  Speaker 1: their arrows and the strange pranks perpetrated by unseen hands
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  Speaker 1: had wrought them to such a state that life had
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  Speaker 1: become a veritable burden in their new home. And now
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  Speaker 1: it was that Mbanga and his head men began to
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  Speaker 1: talk of abandoning the village and seeking a site farther
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  Speaker 1: on in the jungle. Presently, the black warriors began to
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  Speaker 1: strike farther and farther south into the heart of the
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  Speaker 1: forest when they went to hunt, looking for a sight
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  Speaker 1: for a new village. More often was the tribe of
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan disturbed by these wandering huntsmen. Now was the quiet,
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  Speaker 1: fierce solitude of the primeval force broken by new, strange cries.
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  Speaker 1: No longer was their safety for bird or beast. Man
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  Speaker 1: had come. Other animals passed up and down the jungle
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  Speaker 1: by day and by night, fierce cruel beasts, but their
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  Speaker 1: weaker neighbours only fled from their immediate vicinity to return
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  Speaker 1: again when the danger was past. With Man, it is
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  Speaker 1: different when he comes. Many of the larger animals instinctively
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  Speaker 1: leave the district entirely, seldom if ever, to return. And
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  Speaker 1: thus it has always been with the great anthropoids. They
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  Speaker 1: flee Man as Man flees a pestilence. For a short time,
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  Speaker 1: the tribe of Tarzan lingered in the vicinity of the
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  Speaker 1: beach because their new chief hated the thought of leaving
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  Speaker 1: the treasured contents of the little cabin forever. But when
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  Speaker 1: one day a member of the tribe discovered the blacks
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  Speaker 1: and great numbers on the banks of a little stream
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  Speaker 1: that had been their watering place for generations, and in
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  Speaker 1: the act of clearing a space in the jungle and
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  Speaker 1: erecting many huts, the apes would remain no longer, and
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  Speaker 1: so Tarzan led them inland for many marches to a
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  Speaker 1: spot as yet undefiled by the foot of a human being.
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  Speaker 1: Once every moon, Tarzan and would go swinging rapidly back
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  Speaker 1: through the swaying branches to have a day with his
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  Speaker 1: books and to replenish his supply of arrows. This latter
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  Speaker 1: task was becoming more and more difficult, for the Blacks
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  Speaker 1: had taken to hiding their supply away at night in
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  Speaker 1: grainaries and living huts. This necessitated watching by day on
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan's part to discover where the arrows were being concealed.
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  Speaker 1: Twice had he entered huts at night while the inmates
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  Speaker 1: lay sleeping upon their mats, and stolen the arrows from
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  Speaker 1: the very sides of the warriors. But this method, he
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  Speaker 1: realized to be too fraught with danger, and so he
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  Speaker 1: commenced picking up solitary hunters with his long, deadly noose,
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  Speaker 1: stripping them of weapons and ornaments, and dropping their bodies
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  Speaker 1: from a high tree into the village street during the
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  Speaker 1: still watches of the night. These various escapades again so
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  Speaker 1: terrorized the Blacks that, had it not been for the
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  Speaker 1: monthly respite between Tarzan's visits, in which they they had
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to renew hope that each fresh incursion would prove
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  Speaker 1: the last, they soon would have abandoned their new village.
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  Speaker 1: The Blacks had not as yet come upon Tarzan's cabin
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  Speaker 1: on the distant beach, but the ape man lived in
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  Speaker 1: constant dread that while he was away with the tribe,
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  Speaker 1: they would discover and despoil his treasure. So it came
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  Speaker 1: that he spent more and more time in the vicinity
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  Speaker 1: of his father's last home, and less and less with
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  Speaker 1: the tribe. Presently, the members of his little community began
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  Speaker 1: to suffer on account of his neglect, for disputes and
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  Speaker 1: quarrels constantly arose, which only the king might settle peaceably.
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  Speaker 1: At last, some of the older Apes spoke to Tarzan
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  Speaker 1: on the subject, and for a month thereafter he remained
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  Speaker 1: constantly with the tribe. The duties of kingship among the
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  Speaker 1: Anthropoids are not many or arduous. In the afternoon comes Thaka,
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  Speaker 1: possibly to complain that old Mungo has had stolen his
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  Speaker 1: new wife. Then must Tarzan summon all before him, and
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  Speaker 1: if he finds that the wife prefers her new lord,
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  Speaker 1: he commands that matters remain as they are, or possibly
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  Speaker 1: that Mungo give Thaka one of his daughters in exchange.
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  Speaker 1: Whatever his decision, the apes accept it is final and
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  Speaker 1: return to their occupations satisfied. Then comes Tana, shrieking and
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  Speaker 1: holding tight her side from which blood is streaming. Gunto
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  Speaker 1: her husband has cruelly bitten her, and Gunto, summoned, says
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  Speaker 1: that Tana is lazy and will not bring him nuts
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  Speaker 1: and beetles or scratches back for him. So Tarzan scolds
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  Speaker 1: them both and threatens Gunto with a taste of the
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  Speaker 1: death bearing slivers if he abuses Tana further, and Tana,
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  Speaker 1: for her part, is compelled to promise better attention to
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  Speaker 1: her wifely duties. And so it goes. Little family differences
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  Speaker 1: for the most part, which if left on unsettled, would
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  Speaker 1: result finally in greater factional strife and the eventual dismemberment
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  Speaker 1: of the tribe. But Tarzan tired of it, as he
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  Speaker 1: found the kingship meant the curtailment of his liberty. He
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  Speaker 1: longed for the little cabin and the sun kissed sea,
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  Speaker 1: for the cool interior of the well built house, and
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  Speaker 1: for the never ending wonders of the many books. As
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  Speaker 1: he had grown older, he found that he had grown
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  Speaker 1: away from his people. Their interests and his were far removed.
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  Speaker 1: They had not kept pace with him, nor could the
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  Speaker 1: understand aught of the many strange and wonderful dreams that
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  Speaker 1: passed through the active brain of their human king. So
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  Speaker 1: limited was their vocabulary that Tarzan could not even talk
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  Speaker 1: with them of the many new truths and the great
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  Speaker 1: fields of thought that his reading had opened up before
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  Speaker 1: his longing eyes, or make known ambitions which stirred his soul.
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  Speaker 1: Among the tribe, he no longer had friends as of old.
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  Speaker 1: A little child may find companionship in many strange and
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  Speaker 1: simple creatures, but to a grown man there must be
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  Speaker 1: some semblance of equality and intellect as the basis for
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  Speaker 1: agreeable association. Had Kayla lived, Tarzan would have sacrificed all
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  Speaker 1: else to remain near her. But now that she was dead,
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  Speaker 1: and the playful friends of his childhood grown into fierce
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  Speaker 1: and surly brutes. He felt that he much preferred the
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  Speaker 1: peace and solitude of his cabin to the irksome duties
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  Speaker 1: of leadership amongst a horde of wild beasts. The hatred
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  Speaker 1: and jealousy of Turkas, son of Tublat did much to
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  Speaker 1: counteract the effect of Tarzan's desire to renounce his kingship
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  Speaker 1: among the apes. For stubborn, young Englishman that he was,
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  Speaker 1: he could not bring himself to retreat in the face
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  Speaker 1: of so malignant an enemy that to cause would be
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  Speaker 1: chosen leader in his stead. He knew full well for
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  Speaker 1: time and again the ferocious brute had established his claim
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  Speaker 1: to physical supremacy over the few bull apes who had
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  Speaker 1: dared resent his savage bullying. Tarzan would have liked to
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  Speaker 1: subdue the ugly beast without recourse to knife or arrows.
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  Speaker 1: So much had his great strength and agility increased in
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  Speaker 1: the period following his maturity, that he had come to
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  Speaker 1: believe that he might master the redoubtable Turcos in a
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  Speaker 1: hand to hand fight, were it not for the terrible
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  Speaker 1: advantage the anthropoid's huge fighting fangs gave him over the
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  Speaker 1: poorly armed Tarzan. The entire matter was taken out of
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan's hands one day by force of circumstances, and his
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  Speaker 1: future left open to him, so that he might go
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  Speaker 1: or stay without any stain upon his savage escutcheon. It
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  Speaker 1: happened thus the tribe was feeding quietly, spread over a
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  Speaker 1: considerable area, when a great screaming arose some distance east
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  Speaker 1: of where Tarzan lay upon his belly beside a limpid brook,
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  Speaker 1: attempting to catch an elusive fish in his quick brown hands.
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  Speaker 1: With one accord, the tribes swung rapidly toward the frightened cries,
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  Speaker 1: and there found Turcause holding an old female by the
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  Speaker 1: hair and beating her unmercifully with his great hands. As
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan approached, he raised his hand aloft for to cause
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  Speaker 1: to desist, for the female was not his, but belonged
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  Speaker 1: to a poor old ape whose fighting days were long over,
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  Speaker 1: and who therefore could not protect his family. Tarkos knew
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  Speaker 1: that it was against the laws of his kind to
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  Speaker 1: strike this woman of another, but being a bully, he
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  Speaker 1: had taken advantage of the weakness of the female's husband
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  Speaker 1: to chastise her because she had refused to give up
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  Speaker 1: to him a tender young rodent she had captured. When
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  Speaker 1: Turkoz saw Tarzan approaching without his arrows, he continued to
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  Speaker 1: belabor the poor woman in a studied effort to affront
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  Speaker 1: his hated chieftain. Tarzan did not repeat his warning signal,
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  Speaker 1: but instead rushed bodily upon the waiting Turkouz. Never had
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  Speaker 1: the ape man fought so terrible a battle since that
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  Speaker 1: long gone day when Bulgani, the Greek king guerrilla, had
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  Speaker 1: so horribly manhandled him. Ere the newfound knife had, by
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  Speaker 1: accident pricked the savage art Tarzan's knife on the present occasion,
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  Speaker 1: but barely offset the gleaming fangs of Turcose, And what
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  Speaker 1: little advantage the ape had over the man in brute
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  Speaker 1: strength was almost balanced by the latter's wonderful quickness and agility.
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  Speaker 1: In the sum total of their points, however, the anthropoid
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  Speaker 1: had a shade the better of the battle, and had
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  Speaker 1: there been no other personal attribute to influence the final outcome,
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan of the Apes, the young Lord Greystoke, would have
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  Speaker 1: died as he had lived an unknown savage beast in
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  Speaker 1: Equatorial Africa. But there was that which had raised him
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  Speaker 1: far above his fellows of the jungle, that little spark
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  Speaker 1: which spells the whole vast difference between man and brute. Reason,
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  Speaker 1: this it was which saved him from death beneath the
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  Speaker 1: iron muscles and tearing fangs of Turkouse. Scarcely had they
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  Speaker 1: fought a dozen seconds ere they were rolling upon the ground, striking, tearing,
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  Speaker 1: and rending two great savage beasts battling to the death.
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  Speaker 1: Turkos had a dozen knife wounds on head and breast,
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  Speaker 1: and Tarzan was torn and bleeding, his scalp in one place,
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  Speaker 1: half torn from his head, so that a great piece
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  Speaker 1: hung down over one eye, obstructing his vision. But so
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  Speaker 1: far the young Englishman had been able to keep those
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  Speaker 1: horrible fangs from his jugular. And now, as they fought
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  Speaker 1: less fiercely for a moment to regain their breath, Tarzan
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  Speaker 1: formed a cunning plan. He would work his way to
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  Speaker 1: the other's back, and, clinging there with tooth and nail,
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  Speaker 1: drive his knife home until Turkose was no more. The
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  Speaker 1: maneuver was accomplished more easily than he had hoped for.
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  Speaker 1: The stupid beast, not knowing what Tarzan was attempting, made
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  Speaker 1: no particular effort to prevent the accomplishment of the design.
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  Speaker 1: But when finally he realized that his antagonist was fastened
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  Speaker 1: to him, where his teeth and fists alike were useless
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  Speaker 1: against him, Tarkauz hurled himself about upon the ground so
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  Speaker 1: violently that Tarzan could but cling desperately to the leaping, turning,
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  Speaker 1: twisting body, and ere he had struck a blow, the
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  Speaker 1: knife was hurled from his hand by a heavy impact
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  Speaker 1: against the earth, and Tarzan found himself defenseless. During the
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  Speaker 1: rollings and squirmings of the next few minutes, Tarzan's hole
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  Speaker 1: was loosened a dozen times, until finally an accidental circumstance
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  Speaker 1: of those swift and ever changing evolutions gave him a
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  Speaker 1: new hold with his right hand, which he realized was
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  Speaker 1: absolutely unassailable. His arm was passed beneath Turkoz's arm from behind,
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  Speaker 1: and his hand and forearm encircled the back of Turkose's neck.
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  Speaker 1: It was the half nelson of modern wrestling which the
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  Speaker 1: untaught ape man had stumbled upon, but superior reason showed
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  Speaker 1: him in an instant the value of the thing he
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  Speaker 1: had discovered. It was the difference to him between life
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  Speaker 1: and death, and so he struggled to encompass a similar
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  Speaker 1: hold with the left hand, and in a few moments
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  Speaker 1: tur Kose's bull neck was creaking beneath a full nelson.
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  Speaker 1: There was no more lunging about now The two lay
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  Speaker 1: perfectly still upon the ground. Tarzan upon Turkose's back. Slowly
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  Speaker 1: the bullet head of the ape was being forced lower
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  Speaker 1: and lower upon his chest. Tarzan knew what the result
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  Speaker 1: would be. In an instant, the neck would break. Then
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  Speaker 1: there came to Tikose's rescue, the same thing that had
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  Speaker 1: put him in these sore straits, a man's reasoning power.
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  Speaker 1: If I kill him, thought Tarzan, what advantage will it
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  Speaker 1: be to me? Will it not rob the tribe of
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  Speaker 1: a great fighter? And if her cos be dead, he
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  Speaker 1: will know nothing of my supremacy. While alive he will
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  Speaker 1: ever be an example to the other apes. Kat Goda
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  Speaker 1: hissed Tarzan in Turkose's ear, which an ape tong means
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  Speaker 1: freely translated, do you surrender. For a moment, there was
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  Speaker 1: no reply, and Tarzan added a few more ounces of pressure,
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  Speaker 1: which elicited a horrified shriek of pain from the great beast.
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  Speaker 1: Khat Goda repeated Tarzan Kogoda cried Turkose listen, said Tarzan,
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  Speaker 1: easing up a trifle, but not releasing his hold. I
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  Speaker 1: am Tarzan, King of the Apes, mighty hunter, mighty fighter.
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  Speaker 1: In all the jungle. There is none so great you
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  Speaker 1: have said Kagoda to me. All the tribe have heard
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  Speaker 1: quarrel no more with your king or your people, For
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  Speaker 1: next time I shall kill you. Do you understand? Huh?
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  Speaker 1: Assented to? And are you satisfied? Huh? Said the ape.
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan led him up, and in a few minutes all
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  Speaker 1: were back at their vocations, as though naught had occurred
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  Speaker 1: to mar the tranquility of their primeval forest haunts. But
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  Speaker 1: deep in the minds of the Apes was rooted the
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  Speaker 1: conviction that Tarzan was a mighty fighter and a strange creature,
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  Speaker 1: strange because he had had it in his power to
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  Speaker 1: kill his enemy, but had allowed him to live unharmed.
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  Speaker 1: That afternoon, as the tribe came together as was their
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  Speaker 1: wont before darkness settled on the jungle, Tarzan, his wounds
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  Speaker 1: washed in the waters of the stream, called the old
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  Speaker 1: males about him. You have seen again today that Tarzan
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  Speaker 1: of the Apes is the greatest among you, he said, huh,
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  Speaker 1: they replied with one voice. Tarzan is great. Tarzan, he continued,
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  Speaker 1: is not an ape. He is not like his people.
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  Speaker 1: His ways are not their ways. And so Tarzan is
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  Speaker 1: going back to the lair of his own kind by
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  Speaker 1: the waters of the Great Lake, which has no farther shore.
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  Speaker 1: You must choose another to rule you, for Tarzan will
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  Speaker 1: not return. And thus young Lord Greystoke took the first
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  Speaker 1: step toward the goal which he had set, the finding
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  Speaker 1: of other white men like himself. End of chapter